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FRESH KILL

This shot was taken for an assignment from a photography hangout I take part in on Google+. The idea was to shoot an ’emotionally charged splash.” I tried my luck at splashes which are quite difficult. I figured I’d go with liquid dripping which is a bit more controlled.

IDEA AND COMPOSITION

While coming up with the idea I happened to be in the kitchen cooking and had the idea to use the butcher knife I was using. I also thought that if I used a red liquid to simulate blood that it would create a strong emotion.

For this shot I used 3 strobes, some white foam core boards for bouncing the light around, liquid dish soap with red food coloring and to hang the knife I used a wire coat hanger using a hot glue gun to attach it to the handle.

The shot was quite fun to make. I first hung the knife and set up a strobe with a red gel behind and below the knife aiming at the backdrop. Then after I had that effect, I then started to place the other 2 strobes into the shot. I have one strobe with a DIY grid behind and camera left which is what gives the rim lighting on the top edge of the handle.

I placed another strobe, with DIY grid, in front of and to camera left as well, shooting through a diffuser, to create the lighting on the tip of the blade, just where the blade and handle meet and the lighting on the bottom and back end of the handle. The handle lighting I was able to achieve by using white foam core to bounce and soften the light on the handle.

I made the blood with liquid dish soap and several drops of red food coloring. After I had the shot all set up and lighting the way I liked it, I used a spoon to pour the ‘blood’ down the edge of the knife. I built up the flow so that it would start dripping. I fired off shots while looking through the view finder and timing when the drips would occur.

FINAL SHOT

To get the final shot you see below here, I used 2 images I had shot and brought them into Photoshop. I really like the overall shot of one image, and I liked a particular drip in the other so I masked the 2 together. After that I spent time to remove all the dust and specs from the image which took quite some time. I also adjusted the background slightly to get the mood I was after.

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Please also find below this final image a few outtake shots and bts(behind the scenes) shots I took with my phone.

If your interested in following me on Twitter you can either click on the link below or go to twitter and click on follow. I’m now also on Google Plus which is a great new platform. Are you on Facebook? If so please ‘like’ the Maugiart Photography Page.

Here are some BTS (Behind the scenes) shots of my setup. As you can see from the 2 photos below, I have the 2 strobes on the left. The one on the ground is what lit the face of the blade and also bounced the light from it to the handle with the foam core boards on right.

In this shot you can see the setup after the ‘blood’ was poured on the blade.

Here are a couple outtakes from the shoot. As you can see from these photos the wire coat hanger that is holding the knife. Of course I removed that in post production.

Tomorrow night please join the hang studio hang out where we go over last weeks assignment to shoot a red wine bottle. Alex Koloskov & Dave Nitsche have been hosting a weekly google hangout. This will be the 6th one. It starts at 10pm EST.

LIGHT PAINT RED WINE

Here is my take on the assignment from last weeks hangout. After 2.5 hours I finally got the shot I was hoping for. I thought I’d give light painting a try as I hadn’t tried this type of photography before. This shot was done in complete darkness and lit only with a maglite and I used my iphone LED to light the background. Each shot was a 30 second exposure. I also had my long exposure noise reduction turned on in my camera which meant for each 30 second exposure I had another 30 seconds of processing in the camera before it transferred to my computer. I took about 20 shots before I got one that I was happy enough with. With an additional 20 minutes in Photoshop to clean it up I think I finally was happy.

If your interested in following me on Twitter you can either click on the link below or go to twitter and click on follow. I’m now also on Google Plus which is a great new platform. Are you on Facebook? If so please ‘like’ the Maugiart Photography Page.

TODAY’S PHOTO – THE LONELY DEEP RED LILY

Today’s photo of a red lily that bloomed in our backyard. I had noticed it had opened up and was eager to get my attention. I decided to grab my gear and set up to take a shot of this lovely flower which I feel came out just great. Hope you enjoy it!

If your interested in following me on Twitter you can either click on the link below or go to twitter and click on follow. I’m now also on Google Plus which is a great new platform. Are you on Facebook? If so please ‘like’ the Maugiart Photography Page.

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TODAY’S PHOTO – RED FLOWER IN THE GARDEN

I don’t quite remember where I shot this photo. I believe I took it in Capitola, California a few years ago while visiting the coast. We moved to Colorado back in 2003 and the only thing we miss is the ocean. It was great to get away and smell the salty air

We had stayed in a small rental house that was a short walk to the beach and it was surrounded by an amazing array of flowers. I had a lot of fun shooting there.

If your interested in following me on Twitter you can either click on the link below or go to twitter and click on follow. I’m now also on Google Plus which is a great new platform. Are you on Facebook? If so please ‘like’ the Maugiart Photography Page.

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Wild Irish Fuchsia

I was trying to think of something to post today when it occurred to me that in a few weeks I’ll be off to Ireland again to visit one of my customers and catch a little sight seeing if time and weather permits. I thought I’d follow up my last photo of flowers with this shot of a Fuchsia bush that I found while trying to see if I could get a good angle on some boats that happened to be in view. I never saw fuchsia that wasn’t in a pot before hanging on someones porch so it was a pleasant sight.

If your interested in following me on Twitter you can either click on the link below or go to twitter and click on follow. I’m now also on Google Plus which is a great new platform. Are you on Facebook? If so please ‘like’ the Maugiart Photography Page.